Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Last night, I came to a realization. I am going to have some serious trouble keeping pace in the arms race that is the 1.4 patch. It's not that I need or want to be wearing Doomflayer/Warpforged anytime soon, Sovereign is where I am having a hard time.

The problem is not Renown gain, as that is flowing pretty freely. I am working my way through the 70's and should hit 75 today or tomorrow. I'm confident I'll hit 80 relatively soon keeping me within reach of most of the competition.

My issue is obtaining Sovereign armor. Let's face it, as more players start wearing Doomflayer/Warpforged, Sovereign armor will be needed to stay competitive. In 1.4, players can obtain Sovereign through the first stage of the city and by royal crests. Players can also break down higher crests down at a 1:1 ratio. That means I should be able to load up on tokens but that is really not what is happening.

The city siege CAN be fun, but most times it isn't. I am on the casual end of the spectrum, so I maybe hit the city once every week or two. Usually, I only have time to do one instance of it. I also tend to pug, as I can't wait around for pre-made warbands to get going. So if we lose, that is my shot at an armor piece or Royal crests for a while.

When you pug a city instance, it is a game of chance. One lost fight and everyone leaves the instance. Sadly, that happens very frequently. The end result is that I do not enjoy doing the city. The same goes for the other crest source, Thanquol's Incursion. I do not want to PvE it or hop instances hoping to find one that is competitive. I'd much rather stay in the lakes and fight instead of doing the city or TI.

Those are my issues though, and I have no problem being at a disadvantage (that's how I prefer it) due to my mostly-solo play. But at the rate I am going, I may never advance past 4 pieces of Sovereign. If I have to force myself to do the city and TI, the game will become less fun.

So what can be done?

Up-convert Crests. How about being able to up-convert crests at a 5:1 ratio all the way up to Sovereign? Since we get 5 Warlord (I think) crests from a zone lock, it will give some progression without forcing the city and TI on people.

Crest Drops. Crests, especially Royal, are still a pretty rare drop. If their drop rate, Sov and below, were increased it would help players gear up faster just by fighting other players.

Armor Drops. Thanks to Zizlak for reminding me! How about all RvR armor (Sovereign and below) becomes BoE and dropped from players?

I'm not asking to wear the best stuff (or even the 2nd best), I just want to have a way of remaining competitive without doing activities I don't enjoy.